


Wishing on Scars

by dolfabre



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: A ton of found family too, Aftermath of Torture, Aftermath of Violence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anxiety Attacks, Background Aschtalia, Don't mind me and my post-canon headcanons, Friendship, Gen, God knows Luke needs it, I'm so sorry Luke, Implied Discrimination, Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied/Referenced Violence, Injury Recovery, Kidnapping, Mental Health Issues, On hiatus - full intention to finish, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery is more the centre point, Self-Esteem Issues, Torture, Torture Recovery, Violence, angst with an eventual happy ending, lots and lots of friendship, post-epilogue, recovery from torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:26:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24412027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dolfabre/pseuds/dolfabre
Summary: On the night of their coming of age, Asch and Luke returned to Auldrant. Months after returning to their home of Baticul, Luke would go missing once more.
Relationships: Asch the Bloody & Luke fon Fabre, Jade Curtiss & Luke fon Fabre, Luke fon Fabre & Anise Tatlin, Luke fon Fabre & Florian, Luke fon Fabre & Guy Cecil, Luke fon Fabre & Natalia Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, Luke fon Fabre & Suzanne fon Fabre, Luke fon Fabre & Tear Grants, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 24





	Wishing on Scars

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Please remember to read the tags before reading!! I don't go into too much detail in regards to the whole kidnapping/torture part (it's mostly implied as I'm concentrating more on the recovery part) but there could be other parts that might be triggering. I'll update the tags as I go along if anything else comes up along the way.

Luke fon Fabre opened his eyes, once again being met with nothingness. Even closing his eyes seemed a little brighter than staring into the black void that was this place - wherever this place was. It never seemed to matter how many times he awoke like this, it tore away any delusion that all of this could have just been a dream - a nightmare; that the dreams filled with carefree smiles and laughter were in fact reality, but… that was not the case.

In his first days to weeks, he had utterly convinced himself that someone would try to find him. In the days when a flicker of hope was still burning strong, he had tried keeping track of the days, weeks, however long it took for someone to take him away - to take him home at last. With time, that same flame became smaller and smaller, with even a whisper of ‘maybe they aren’t coming’ becoming enough to blow the light in his heart out completely.

 _How long had he even been here?_ That question… he couldn’t answer. Maybe it was constantly awakening to an abyss he couldn’t see, or even the games of torture in which he was an unwilling participant, but all his guesses stemmed from about a year to a couple of decades. The best way he could describe it was, if time had managed to fasten and stop completely all at the same time. Perhaps what added more time was the constant state of hunger and pain that would drag for days until he inevitably passed out. And then he’d wake up again.

_Oh merciful Yulia, hadn’t he suffered enough?_

Shifting slightly on the cold, slightly wet concrete flooring was enough to force a sharp intake of breath, which in turn started a ripple effect of aching throughout his body. All he could hear was the sound of his own breathing in his ears, although he was also aware of the other sleeping whispers from around the room. Unbeknown to him, a slight and muffled groan slipped through his lips, green eyes widening in fear as the sound hit his ears. 

"Lu...ke?" A voice echoed across the room just enough to be heard. "Luke, are you... awake?"

The voice in question belonged to one of the other captives in this place. When there didn’t seem to be much activity going on upstairs, sometimes they’d quietly talk between themselves. The conversations themselves didn’t have much weight nor much value, but it was probably the reason none of them had begun to start questioning their sanity more than reality had already made so. Over the feeling of his head throbbing, remembering the name of the person calling him seemed impossible. But for now, it probably wasn't a priority.

Luke let out a soft sigh of relief, followed by a slight exhale in pain. Just knowing they weren’t downstairs yet was enough to make him feel a legitimate sense of relief. In response to the voice, he made another sound in reply - somewhere between a hum and a muffled groan - promptly deciding that an indication that he was alive was good enough. He was exhausted already, and the idea of trying to converse already took up too much energy.

"... thank Yulia you woke up," the voice whispered back within a few moments, making sure their volume wouldn't attract any unwanted attention. "I was scared you wouldn't..."

_If he had much choice in the matter, he probably wouldn’t have either._

“They…” he began, instantly wishing he hadn’t even tried. His voice was breathy, pain-ridden and barely seemed to hit the other’s ear at all if it weren’t for the backing silence. A pin falling to the floor would have made more impact, but it was too late to go back now. At the very least, he could manage another word, right? “Have… n’t?”

“Not since… y’know.” The reply was fast; the question he was trying to ask being instantly understood. Maybe it was the practice - everyone would ask the same thing when they eventually came back around - or maybe it was just a mutual sense of fear, one of which they just understood too well at this point. Those words brought a sense of relief to Luke, only to onset an oncoming dread as he questioned just when they would return - whoever they were. “As soon as they… I haven’t seen or heard much since. I think it’s been a day or so…. Maybe.” 

But nothing was certain, it was too hard to tell. The windows in this place were non-existent, and there was definitely an upstairs so surely this was a sort of basement, right? That was as far as anyone could seem to tell about this place. The only way to tell the time was based on how busy it was upstairs, but the rest of it was just a guess. Sometimes they could see light of sorts when the door to the basement(?) opened, however the angle was slightly awkward and even that managed to bring water to Luke’s eye.

“I know it won’t really do much but… get some rest while you can.”

He didn’t really need telling twice. Staying awake for even five minutes at a time managed to take a hit at what was left of his energy conserves, and given the option of sleeping for a week straight - he’d take it in a heartbeat. Not like it took much to exhaust him anymore, and sometimes it was just processing what would be waiting for him the next day, but for now… at least he could try to ignore the world for as long as possible.

* * *

Familiar faces and voices often filled his dreams, and as much as it hurt the places inside that weren’t already aching, it also brought an indescribable blanket of ease. The images and sounds he would hear weren’t usually cohesive, linear nor often made sense at all, but it would make him feel as if maybe… maybe they were still trying to find him. While he knew that heartbreak was only imminent with that hope trying to reignite, for now he was happy to just pretend. And for some reason in his dreams, it didn’t seem to hurt as much.

This dream was set after he and Asch had returned, and for some reason his friends had come over for tea with his mother. It was a strange premise, but perhaps not completely out of character for the lady of the manor. Everyone seemed pleasant and ‘themselves’ as much as Luke could possibly remember them; smiling and telling silly stories, sipping at teacups and mindlessly chatting amongst themselves, comfortably sat in one of the parlor rooms in the Fabre manor.

Anise was pouting slightly over a story that was being recounted by various members of the group, attempting to ignore the conversation - or at least, pretending she wasn’t bothered by adjusting her iconic yellow ribbons that tied together her pigtails with gloved fingers. Florian was attempting to sip at his teacup before being interrupted by a flurry of chuckles at the story being recounted by varying members of the party. Jade remained quite nonchalant in regard to the conversation at hand, almost waiting for the opportune moment to break into wit or to deliver the punchline (whichever one came first) when it was offered to him. Natalia sat between Anise and Asch, her hand gently clasped on top of Asch’s own, listening intently but often smiling in amusement.

On the other hand, Asch looked a little more uncomfortable than his companion, but perhaps it was more the idea of having tea with the group that he was once out to defeat. Guy sat in the corner, between Asch and Jade to be exact (even in this dream it seemed, perhaps old habits die hard), grinning to himself as he occasionally added in details Anise wouldn’t appreciate. Despite her smiles, there was a glimpse of tiredness beginning to grow in Suzanne’s eyes, but Luke knew for a fact that she would try to push through until the last moment; however oddly put together her son’s group of friends were - she enjoyed their company.

And finally, there was Tear. Something was definitely wrong with Tear. Although the fonist wasn’t exactly known for her particularly unguarded facial expressions, nor was she known to be the most socially involved person when it came to his mother’s tea parties, being as quiet as she was… it felt unnerving. She was staring down at her teacup, her eyes were almost lifeless - empty - as if everything she had ever known had just been smashed to pieces right in front of her. Slowly, she looked up at him, and a singular tear fell from the corner of her eye - rolling down her cheek. 

"Luke..?"

But he couldn’t find it in himself - or rather find the voice - to reply, and the silence between them carried on for what felt like an eternity. The only thing that brought him back to his thoughts were the aches and pains that suddenly shot through his unconscious state, causing him to almost collapse on the sofa on which he sat. His breathing was heavy, and his eyes widened with alarm. He was still here, in his dream. He was still asleep. And yet the reality he could barely escape was starting to filter through. Or was this a new kind of nightmare he had yet to experience?

The others’ conversation had somehow become mute to Luke’s ears, and yet they seemed to continue to talk amongst themselves. He turned his head back to Tear, who still seemed quite distressed about something (him?), but her head tilted down once again to stare at the cooling beverage in her teacup. No one seemed to notice his pain nor extreme discomfort, nor the fact that the room itself was becoming darker by the minute. And before long, he was reacquainted with the same black void he had awoken to not long before.

But even with the familiar sight of nothingness, he could have sworn his eyes were still closed. Instead of being met with the freezing cold concrete flooring, he was met with what felt like a cloud of warmth surrounding his body, almost letting him forget the pain. It was a nostalgic feeling, as if it has been felt before, but one that hadn't been felt for years prior.

Shouting, crashing, crying - the sounds of chaos filled his ears, but it was too muffled to make out what was exactly being said. Among the voices sounding out, there were a couple he recognised - but couldn’t remember just to whom they belonged. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t - no… _couldn’t_ \- he _couldn’t_ seem to force himself awake for whatever reason.

_Maybe his mind was finally about to go mad._

_Maybe… this was how he’d..?_

* * *

Luke fon Fabre opened his eyes, but this time something was different. Something had changed from before. The impending darkness had gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this far! This is the biggest idea I've tackled in a long time, so I worked really hard to bring this to fruition! Thank you to De (DreamyRequiem) for reading this over. I'm working on the next chapter, so hopefully it will be up soon!
> 
> I'd like to apologise to Luke again also,


End file.
